Archive for June, 2011

Rejoyce, oh fellow aficionados of the very splendid Mr. Garrow! Filming for series 3 of Garrow’s Law has begun; wigs and tricorns and the very lovely Andrew Buchan in breeches and scared chicken in baskets have been sighted in Edinburgh, and though the BBC STILL hasn’t officially announced series 3, it’s now safe to start stocking up on sel volatile.

I can’t wait to see Mr. Garrow, Lady Sarah and Mr. Southouse return to the small screen. Sir Arthur, not so much. Artie can go and suck a lemon, as far as I’m concerned (but I admit that I’m biased). Of course I hope for a naval-related case, but we’ve been very spoiled in the last series, so I’ll very likely enjoy (and review) whatever the writers will give us.

We had 36° here today, by the way. There’s only one thing hotter than the asphalt outside…

Following my recent post about poor Basil Hall’s run-in with unhappy readers, I went on a chamber pot hunt, because I was curious if there were other unfortunate people whose portraits had ended up on the bottom of a jerry. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very lucky, but at least I learned that William Randolph Hearst, the American newspaper magnate, presented his professors with chamber pots with their pictures prior to his expulsion from Harvard. Now we know why it’s called “gutterpress” – and who knows what “Rosebud” really was…!

Anyway, I did find one chamberpot which was just too good not to share with you. I wonder if it was a present from Emma to Nelson!

When it comes to expression of dislike for an individual, the following item should win a special price. I don’t know who owned this jerry, but one thing’s for sure: they didn’t like Captain Basil Hall of the Royal Navy very much!

( Source – Northeast Museum Services Center, where you can find more information and many interesting items )

According to the curator who handled this precious item (what’s NOT to love about it!), the jerry dates between 1790-1835. They also say that

“The practice of including portraits inside chamber pots became popular during and directly following the Colonial period in America, specifically portraits of kings.”

George III. must have been mightily pissed by this custom!

*bad pun week ahead*

This discovery means, of course, that I’ll now have to go hunting for insulting jerrys. History is fun, people!

“La montre tactile” – the touch watch. Made in the late 18th century of gold and blue ennamel, encrusted with diamonds. Valuable like woah!

The actual clockwork is inside the watch, and one had to adjust the hands on the front manually. Doesn’t sound very useful, does it? While one could think that this item was made for a blind person (and it certainly could have been used by somebody without eyesight), it was in fact “only” a fashionable gadget; something to touch and play with – the luxury version of a worry stone.

You’ll probably remember the amazing 18th century doll featured on the Antiques Roadshow a couple of weeks ago. I thought you’d like to know what happened to the splendid young lady after the show.

The owner decided not to sell “Aunt Marianne (Mary Anne?)” – that’s the doll’s name – but had her professionally restored to her old beauty. My compliments go to the conservators, who did a fantastic job:

I don’t know whether the owner will keep her or give her to a museum, though. But I’m happy she wasn’t auctioned off just to disappear in the closet of a collector, never to be seen again.

These objects are too amazing not to be shared with you. Imagine you live in 1820 and learn that your husband is cheating on you. Now you can’t shoot him (nor should you), but you can scare the wits out of him with these wonderful pistols.

That must have been the train of thought had by the Rochat brothers from Geneva; I can’t imagine any other reason why one would create a pistol where a bird pops up and sings when you pull the trigger! Don’t go with a bang, go with a song!

The pistols are made of gold, decorated with blue and red enamel, diamonds and pearls. They are stunning works of art; only four other pistols like these are known, and this is the only pair which ever came up for auction. Christie’s expected them to fetch between 2.5 – 5 million dollars; they sold for 5.8 millions in the end.